Sandpaper and sanders are well known and have been in use for hundreds of years. Sandpaper is formed from a strong paper or other material coated on one surface with a layer of sand or other abrasive. A sander is used to hold and move a piece of sandpaper across a surface, to smooth or polish the surface. As a surface is sanded, inevitably the sand or other abrasive affixed to the sandpaper becomes dislodged from the sandpaper or the abrasive becomes clogged with removed material, significantly decreasing the effectiveness of the sandpaper. Thus, a user is forced to remove the piece of spent sandpaper attached to the sander, cut a new piece of sandpaper, and attach the sandpaper to the sander. As one can imagine, the process of sandpaper replacement is frequent, time consuming, labor intensive, and therefore expensive.
To facilitate the replacement of the sandpaper, and thus help to mitigate the labor required to replace sandpaper, sandpaper dispensers have been developed. In one previously developed sandpaper dispenser, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,657, issued to Hopkins, a box shaped housing is used to contain a roll of sandpaper therein. The sandpaper dispenser is remotely located from the sander, i.e., is positioned upon a workbench and accessed as needed. The sandpaper is dispensed through a slot in the housing. A cutting blade is attached to the housing to permit a user to pull from the box a selected length of sandpaper, and then cut the selected length off of the roll by use of the cutting blade.
Although effective, this previously developed sandpaper dispenser is not without its problems. For instance, a user must still stop the sander and remove the attached piece of spent sandpaper. The user must then locate the sandpaper dispenser, measure the appropriate length of sandpaper needed, and cut off the required length from the roll. The user then returns to the sander and attaches the new length of sandpaper to the sander. Only then may the user commence sanding. Therefore, although the previously developed sandpaper dispensers are effective, they still do not alleviate the labor intensive process necessitated by the frequent removal and attachment of sandpaper to the sander. Thus, a need exists for a sandpaper dispenser that dispenses sandpaper such that the sandpaper does not need to be measured, is coupled directly to the sander, applies new sandpaper rapidly, is inexpensive to manufacture, reliable, and meets the performance requirements of the end user.